Isaiah 60:17 For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron… This passage occurs amid the glowing prophecies concerning the millennial kingdom. It has, however, its application to the kingdom in its present state. I. THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST RECOGNIZES DIFFERENT GRADES, QUALITIES, VALUES, USES. Each of these is most effective in its own place. We would much sooner commit ourselves to a vessel of steel than to one whose hull was made of gold. No greater calamity could happen to the world than to turn all substances into gold. In the Church variety of talent and gifts, differences of classes are essential to prosperity. God never repeats- Himself. Equality is impossible, and if possible would be disastrous. II. ALL THINGS TAKE ON ENHANCED VALUE IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD. "For brass I will bring gold," etc. Wherever the Church of Christ comes, instantly all things leap into higher value — property, schools, trade, institutions, government, the family, the individual. You may interrogate in just four different directions — Nature, the Rational World, Sin, the Kingdom. Nature replies: "I change nothing. I furnish the ore; I cannot bring out the metal; I can't change even the place of a stone." Rational World replies: "I can change the shapes, the places, the combinations of things, but I cannot change the substances. I cannot turn iron into silver, wood into brass, stones into iron." Sin rises in its black monstrosity, and says: "Yes, I have power to change. I can reach up, lay my hand on the twenty-two carat gold and drag it down to silver; I can drag the silver down to brass, the brass to iron, the iron to stone, the stone to wood, the wood I can burn with the torch of hate, and scatter the ashes on the red-hot floor of hell — I can do that!" Sin can drag the genius or the archangel down to the abyss of a hopeless hades. It is only the Kingdom that can say: "Everything I touch shall increase in value. I can take even the devil's outcasts and change them into burning seraphs.' III. THIS ENHANCEMENT OF VALUES IS BY AND THROUGH SUCCESSIVE GRADES — wood, stone, iron, brass, silver, gold. God's method of working is by development through grades. There is no such thing as reaching perfection at a bound. It is a walk, a race — meaning steady progress by steps. IV. THE DIVINE AGENCY IS EMPHASIZED. "I will bring." Transformations in human nature are effected through Divine power and grace. (A. McE. Wylie.) Parallel Verses KJV: For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron: I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness. |
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